"I'm not going to kill you," Princess Flurry Heart said, stroking her lover's cheek with a hoof. "No matter how much you hate me for it."
"Oh, please," Cozy Glow replied. "There's so many other reasons why I hate you." She leaned in to press a kiss against Flurry's lips. "Gosh, you're so pretty. Maybe when I finally take you down I'll turn you into a statue and keep you in my throne room to look at."
“You continue to speak of impossibilities,” Flurry said calmly. "It would be better if you accepted the inevitability of your loss."
"Better for me, or better for you?" Cozy teased.
"Ending needless bloodshed is always for the best. You know this."
Cozy snorted. "Yeah, yeah, you still think you're immortal and infallible and invincible even though that's just plain wrong."
"These are not thoughts, they are truths of the universe that you have lost sight of." Ugh, she hated when Flurry got like this. "You know you cannot win against Harmony herself."
"I'm not trying to beat Harmony, though," Cozy sneered. "I just need to take down an alicorn with delusions of grandeur."
"There was a time when you would not have even entertained the possibility of such a thought," Flurry murmured. She reached out to gently cup Cozy's chin with a hoof. "I am saddened to have lost that, and the world is a darker place without it."
Cozy brushed off the hoof. "Oh, yeah, because what the world needs is even more light when all your ponies are already blinded by you."
"It is not they who are blinded." Flurry reached out again, but this time Cozy grabbed her foreleg in a firm grip. Of course, Flurry could overpower her at any time, but that would end this moment of intimacy between them.
"Yeah, yeah, I didn't come here to listen to you preach." Cozy's other hoof began softly stroking Flurry's wings. "Wanna see how fast I can get you off again?"
Flurry shook her head. "You are not so lost as to believe that your only goal here was physical pleasure."
"Being able to throw your failures back into your face directly is pretty satisfying too," Cozy agreed. "Like, I can imagine how sad you are when your advisors tell you about the latest bridge I've blown up or the new virus I've released at the train station, but nothing really compares to the real thing, you know?"
"So many lives lost in pursuit of your own selfish goals," Flurry tsked. "How many more must you take before you understand you cannot defeat me?"
Cozy's hoof never stopped its gentle ministrations as she spoke. "Says the mare who's killed hundreds of my rebels, even when their families are in the way."
"They are still my ponies, even when blinded by you," Flurry answered, not a hint of emotion in her voice. "Their lives are mine to take, not yours."
"Oh, please," Cozy scoffed. "I might have believed that back when you had me wrapped around your pretty little hoof, but now I know just how worthy you are of owning Equestria and everyone in it. Hint: I'd do a better job of it."
"You think only of yourself now," Flurry pointed out, ignoring Cozy's hoof as it moved from her wings towards somewhere more intimate. "That is not becoming of a leader."
"Pot calling the kettle black there, huh?" Cozy began peppering kisses down Flurry's neck. "It's always about you. All I cared about was making you happy, and in return you gave me whatever scraps of attention you could spare."
"You were accepting of your place beneath me." Flurry wrapped a wing around her, pulling her deeper into herself. "Do you not miss the true happiness that came from serving me?"
"Of course I do," Cozy muttered into Flurry's shoulder. "That's what I hate most about you, y'know? You finally gave me something more to believe in, and then you ripped it away when you showed me who you really were."
"I am who I am, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be," Flurry declared, pressing a kiss against Cozy's forehead.
"Yeah, what you are is just like every other princess I've met." Cozy pushed Flurry away. "You told me you were better than them," she hissed, angry tears welling up in her eyes. "You told me you had what it took to be the Goddess I wanted to serve. But instead, when we finally rose up, when I helped you claim the throne, you didn't have the guts to go through with our plan."
"That was your plan," Flurry replied. "It was not my will."
"That sure sounds like an excuse to me." Cozy's lips curled upwards into a sneer. "Really convenient that you can say that about anything, huh?"
"I only speak Truth," Flurry said.
"Bull manure," Cozy spat. "You lied about being strong enough to do what you needed to do in order to secure the throne, to make sure the other alicorns could never challenge you again."
"And they never shall." There was no doubt in Flurry's eyes— but then again, there never was. Cozy used to love that about her, but now her hubris only rankled. "The stasis spell is unbreakable by any save myself."
"Uh huh, and you know what's even more unbreakable?" Cozy paused for dramatic effect before booping Flurry playfully on the nose. "Death."
"That is not the fate I have decreed for them." It wasn't the first time Flurry has said this to Cozy, and it wouldn't be last, but her patiences never faltered. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under my domain. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time for war, and a time for peace. They will serve me when the time comes, and so shall you. As above, so below."
"You know, sometimes I wonder if you actually believe all of that, or part of you knows that you fooled yourself just as much as you tricked everypony else." Despite everything, Cozy couldn't help but brush her hindleg against Flurry's, needing to feel that physical connection between them.
Flurry allowed her that comfort. "Your body betrays the desires of your soul," she said, wrapping her hindleg around Cozy's hips. "With each union, your resolve will weaken. I am your shepherd, and soon, you shall not want."
"I'm going to enjoy killing you," Cozy said through gritted teeth, the tears still freely falling. "I hate you."
"Love and hate can coexist— such is the way of Harmony." Flurry shook her head. "And you speak another falsehood, for you know that hurting me tears your heart asunder."
"Yeah, fine, it'll really suck, but I'm still going to do it, because I'm better than you." There was pride in Cozy's voice as she said those words, pride in the one way she was better than this imperfect alicorn. "I have what it takes to make Equestria mine."
"All that you had was given by my hoof, and when I retract it, you will find that you have nothing," Flurry reminded her.
"Except you won't. Because you're weak," Cozy said, glaring at Flurry. "That's why I abandoned you."
Faster than she could react, Flurry's hoof lashed out, gripping the pegasus mare by the throat. "And yet you keep coming back to me," Flurry replied. "Because I'm still the strongest mare you'll ever meet."
"Then kill me," Cozy hissed. "Do what it takes to secure your kingdom."
Flurry didn't move.
"I thought so." Cozy pushed Flurry away, and Flurry allowed her to climb out of the bed. "I can't believe I ever fell for somepony like you."
"I love you, Cozy Glow," Flurry said as Cozy walked away.
"I love you too, Flurry," Cozy replied without looking back. "And I know you won't hurt the ones you love, but one day, I'll find a way to drive a knife through your heart. See you next week." With that, she left the bedroom.
Flurry wept.